What is the NHS Corporate Takeover Bill and why do we need to fight it?
The government has introduced their NHS Health and Care Bill to Parliament. A more accurate title for this legislation is the NHS Corporate Takeover Bill. Here’s why…
If implemented, the reforms would give private companies - such as Virgin and Serco - control over our NHS, by giving them a seat at the table when budgets are set and decisions are made about the kind of healthcare we as patients will receive.
In the last few weeks, it was revealed that Virgin have already been given a seat on the new NHS decision-making body in Bath and Somerset. This new legislation will lead to this happening across England. These private companies cannot be trusted to act in the interests of patients - they will always cut corners on our care in order to increase their own profits.
These changes are part of another big restructure of the NHS but they don’t come with the proper funding our NHS needs, so paying for these reforms will mean more cuts. This puts us on the route to many more GP surgeries, hospitals and A&E’s being closed down for not being financially ‘viable’.
The reorganisation proposed in this bill will also mean an end to the idea of a national health service. New regional bodies will be forced into making short-term decisions about where to put their limited budget. This will mean different services and standards of care across the country - a return to the hated postcode lottery, so where you live determines what care you get.
These new regional NHS bodies - likely with private companies at the table making decisions - will be allowed to make money, encouraging them to invest in and offer private healthcare to wealthy patients, thus eroding the principles of the NHS. They’ll also be able to decide what to pay their staff, meaning cost cutting could hurt our overworked nurses and doctors even more.
At the same time the bill will put much more power over your NHS into the hands of central government in Westminster rather than the communities it serves - making it easier for Ministers to force through changes that staff and patients don’t want.
This bill threatens the future of our NHS as we know it, and takes us towards an American-style healthcare system where private profits are put before patient health.
Patients and staff don't want more corporate power in our NHS - we want more funding, a democratic voice in how it's run, proper support for health workers, and an end to NHS privatisation. These plans are the opposite of the NHS New Deal we’ve been calling for.
Neither the government nor the media will tell the truth about this corporate takeover of our NHS - so we all need to step up to spread the word in our communities, and pile pressure on our elected politicians to oppose the plans.
Join our movement to oppose the NHS corporate takeover bill and win an NHS New Deal instead - if we organise collectively, we have the power to force the government to back down!